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The Practice of Carpentry In The Ancient World

admin — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Carpentry isn’t a new concept, it has been around for thousands of years. In fact, carpentry has been such an important occupation for human beings that even Jesus Christ was a carpenter. Though some tools used in ancient times aren’t necessary anymore, there are plenty that we use to this day. Here are some of the tools that you may recognize and some that may not seem some so familiar.

First of all, these tools are tools that are still used today. When you think of tools such as the drill you may not realize that people in ancient times used drills as well. In fact, drills were actually a type of bow rounded on a shaft. The top was held by a rock. Though its not the traditional drill that we know today it is very much the same concept. Some tools like the hammer and chisel, the vice, the saw, and the axe haven’t changed much in all these years.

Other tools such as the lathe and cane bender are tools that we do not often see today. Though they have similar outcomes as their modern counter parts the means of achieving said outcome is always going to be evolving.

Oral Traditional Structures In Narratives Of Jesus

admin — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Modern scholars recognize that the Gospels were written decades or longer after the life of Jesus, developed as oral traditions before being written down. This makes sense, as Jesus himself was an oral presenter, not a writer; many of his narratives, particularly the parables, are excellent for remembering easily and reciting before a crowd. Living in a Jewish culture before the Talmud was put to writing, Jesus would not have seemed out of place.

How historically accurate these oral traditions are is debatable. Originally the assumption was that the traditions could change widely before being written down, and that therefore the Gospels were largely unreliable. However, many modern scholars challenge the idea that an oral history is automatically suspect. It is likely that there were some kind of controls among Jesus’ early followers to keep the stories somewhat codified.

That being said, some alteration was likely as transmitters tried to adjust the stories to fit the specific needs of their audience. This was not necessarily deceptive, as early Christians saw the Holy Spirit working within them to guide their words to truth. If nothing else, the Gospels thus give us an accurate reflection of the period and early Christians’ beliefs.

Chreia Traditions And The Rhetorical Form Of Jesus’ Sayings

admin — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Jesus asked rhetorical questions of his followers in many of his teachings. He used Chreia traditions to encourage them to think about how the Holy Spirit could work through them if they put their trust in God, instead of attempting to solve their problems themselves. When they put their trust in Jesus, they could feel the power of the Holy Spirit working through them.

Jesus often lllustrated his teachings based on his audience. He used imagery and left the people to ponder his stories. An example of how Jesus used Chreia traditions was “The Sermon on the Mount.” He used 62 different figures of speech to elaborate on his message.

In Mathew, Jesus draws analogies to the Holy Spirit working through him when feeding the five thousand (Mathew 14: 13-18). He knows the people will be fed but the disciples are skeptical. He tells them to feed the people. They complain that they have five loaves and two fish. He takes the loaves and fish, looks toward heaven, and asks for God’s blessing. The disciples distributed the food among the people and there were twelve baskets of leftovers. By using the loaves and fish as imagery, he showed the people that God was indeed caring for them and always does if they just put their trust in Him.

The Christ Conversation Today

admin — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 00:00:00 +0000

There are a lot of things debated about Jesus Christ and there’s no shortage of historical films and documentaries on direct tv to prove it. We take a quick look at some of the most talked about aspects of Jesus’s life and what they mean today.

Was Jesus White?: Perhaps one of the biggest questions circulating around Christ in the past 20 years is about his ethnicity. Some say he hailed from Africa and some from the Middle East. What’s likely certain, though, is that he was not entirely Caucasian as he’s usually pictured.

Was Jesus Married?: Mary Magdalene features prominently in the story of modern Jesus and many say that’s because she was his never-talked about wife. There’s not a lot of evidence to back this story up but people hold firm to the belief.

Has Jesus Returned?: Some people believe that Jesus walks among us today and still others think there are specific dates for his second coming. Whatever you believe may coincide with how you interpret the Bible and the teachings of Christ.

What Jesus Wore: Clothing In The New Testament

admin — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0000

According to scripture, below are the clothes Jesus wore.

Tunic
Jesus wore a seamless, woven tunic (lose fitting robe) that was one piece as stated in “When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.” John 19:23. It was either wool or linen, not woven together as stated in scripture, “Do not wear clothes of wool and linen woven together.” Deuteronomy 22:11

Cloak
Jesus wore a cloak as stated in scripture, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.Want more? Click here/tag” Matthew 9:21

Loincloth
Underneath the tunic was a loincloth, worn by men and women at that time. A type of underwear made of cloth, rectangle in shape, worn between the legs then tied with attached straps around the waist. This would be the remaining undergarment referred to in John 19:23

Sandals
We know that he wore sandals, according to scripture, “John answered them all, “I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” Luke 3:15.

Messianic Judaism In Its Historical Context

admin — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Messianic Judaism is not a new concept, only a more recent title for an older set of beliefs and its proponents. Since the 1960s there has been major growth in the movement of Jews who consider themselves Messianic, or believers in Yeshua (Jesus’ Hebrew name). Prior to this era, the term Hebrew Christian was a more common one for members of this religious group.
In actuality Jewish Believers or Messianic Jews have been around in some number since the actual time of Jesus. Jesus was a Jew himself, born of a Jewish mother and considered to be in the lineage of King David of Israel. The Apostles were all Jews, and these men who authored the books of the New Testament could be considered some of the first Messianic Jewish people. The more than a million reported Messianic Jews of the years after Jesus time on earth, that followed his teachings; were cut off from the mainstream Jews, and considered radical and different.
These early Messianics and those of today, retain the practices of Judaism, and celebrate the holidays in the Old testament while believing that the promised Messiah mentioned in the Old Testament actually did come, and was Jesus of Nazareth.
This is where other forms of Judaism differ, and though Messianic Judaism is a continually growing movement, even in Israel today where there are many congregations, its acceptance by other branches of Judaism has not yet come to fruition.

Jewish Revolts In The Roman Empire

admin — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0000

“And He said unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar’s, and unto God the things which be God’s.” (Luke 20:25; KJV)

Although this is Jesus’ famous reply when asked if it was lawful for Jews to pay taxes to their Roman conquerors, the Jews did not follow this advice. Ever since the Romans invaded Israel in 63 AD, the Jews constantly tried to overthrow their conquerors. They never succeeded.

The first revolt, called now the Great Revolt lasted from 66 to 73 AD. Zealots rallied the Jewish people after the Roman procurator Florus stole silver directly from the Temple. Although Jewish forces were able to rout the Romans, the Empire sent 60,000 reinforcements. Over one million Jews died in the Great Revolt and the Temple was destroyed.

Other revolts followed that never came close to the Great Revolt. The Second Jewish war or Kitos War occurred from 115 to 117 AD. Jews began destroying pagan temples in their homeland. This revolt spread to Jewish communities in Egypt and Cyprus but was quickly quelled. The Bar Kokhba Revolt occurred from 132 to 135 AD, when Simon bar Kokhba was proclaimed Messiah. An estimated 580,000 Jews were killed and the survivors were kicked out of Judea.

The final notable revolt was against Gallus, brother-in-law of the Emperor who favored Christians, in 351. Many Jews and Christians were killed.

Units Of Measure In The New testament

admin — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Here is a brief description of some units of measure in the New Testament:

Cubits, as described in both the Old and New Testaments, refers to distance. Remember Moses building the Arc in the Old testament? Or perhaps in the book of Revelation 21:17 where heaven is described as a cube with this unit of measure. A cubit is approximately 17-21 inches, or about the length from your elbow to your middle finger.

A farthing, as used in Matthew 5:26, is described as a penny, but it doesn’t mean the one cent Americans mean when they say penny.Never heard of this before? Get up to speed here. A farthing is worth about 1/4 of today’s penny. So, take a penny, break it up into four pieces, and you have the biblical farthing.

A denarus as described in Matthew 18:28 is about 16 cents. This scripture refers to a few hundred denarii. If 100 pennies equals one dollar, then a few dollars is all a few denarii are.

Mina, reference scripture Luke 19:16, pertains to time and is about three months.

Lastly, the ever popular talent. A parable given by Jesus in Matthew 25:14 shows talents being distributed to three unwitting individuals. One talent is approximately 100 by today’s standards.